Name plaques

With the next workshop now only a week away we are going full blast getting ready. One of the jobs is to create a name plaque for each attendee. I won't be sharing them all here but in the next few days I'll show a few...

Trish is our only female attendee this time. Bec always asks me to do something a little more feminine when I get the chance. The right designs create some cool painting opportunities for her.

Trish's husband Doug was the next guest to get a plaque. It was inspired by a manhole cover. It should paint up pretty cool.

For Darrel's plaque I was trying out a whole bunch of new techniques. I wanted the name plaque to resemble an old piece of newspaper.

The next plaque was for a good friend of mine who is going to be atthe Sculpture Magic Workshop the next week. Doug is capable of creating some pretty awesome work on his own, so I wanted to do something that perhaps he would never think of. Doug is a science fiction affectionado. So I thought I would go down that route with his name plaque.

I found an alien alphabet which really made no sense. By carefully choosing the symbols, then adjustng and modifying them I found I could create the letters to 'spell' out his name. Just to make it a little more cryptic I arranged them in two lines. It says Doug - but only if you look at it a while. The background texture is from my TEXTURE MAGIC collection. It is called Klingon Chicken. I figured he would appreciate it like no one else. He is that kind of guy.

Tomorrow I'll post a few more - just for fun.

-grampa dan

Being green

The last few days has been all about the new house and the final planning decisions necessary to send off our ideas for the production of the blueprints needed for the builder and regulatory authorities. As we consider all the options possible on our new house the idea of 'being green' comes up often. I never thought I would see the day I would think so much about these things but attitudes are changing - even at our house.

We are looking at the green aspects from a comfort, practical, and cost stand point - both long term and short term. It definitely costs more to build green but with the high cost of energy and it's undoubtable increase in the future there are a lot of things we can do that will make perfect sense.

The new house (like our shop) will be built using an FRC system. Specially designed hollow blocks of styrofoam are stacked like lego with plenty of rebar carefully placed inside. (We used two miles of steel and two hundred cubic yards of concrete in our shop.) Once the foam blocks and steel are in place the inside cavity is filled with concrete. The insulation and air tightness of the structure is twice that of a conventionally framed building. This makes the building extremely efficient and quiet. Other measures are used throught the construction to continue this practice. 

The large windows of the house will be oriented southwards capturing the solar energy of the sun. South (away from the busy road) also happens to have spectactular views which we enjoy. The large thermal mass of the walls and concrete floor will moderate outside temperature extremes on both ends of the scale.

We will incorporate a hot water on demand system using high efficiency heaters for both heating and domestic water use. The resulting energy savings of everything combined could amount to up to 70% over a conventional house, meaning our extra costs incurred during construction will be offset in a hurry. A much quieter and more comfortable house is also added benefits.

We will of course wrap all this green stuff in a decroative and fun envelope. Being green does not mean we have to be ultra modern or plain. We can build the ultimate house that suits our practical and inner (child) needs as well.

Perhaps tomorrow I will do some real work that pays off in the short term.

-grampa dan

Workshops!

These days we have workshops on our mind a lot. With the next Sign Magic Workshop now only a week away preparations are in full gear. The Sculpting Magic Workshop is the next week after that. We have guests coming from across North America for these workshops.

This morning when I checked our email I found an email from editor of the largest sign magazine in the Ukraine. As I paged through the digital magazine I noticed a full page advertisement for a Sign Magic Workshop to be held in that region later this year. As I don't read or speak their language I am not sure of everything the ad says but it looked cool! I look forward to going there to present that workshop when it happens.

There is also serious talk of a Sign Magic Workshop to be held in the New Jersey/New York area later this year. So I could be going to some pretty interesting places in the coming months. Stay tuned for more news of those events.

-grampa dan